Climate change education legislation in Virginia

Virginia's House Bill 1088, prefiled on January 10, 2024, by Betsy B. Carr (D-District 78), would, if enacted, require the state board of education to aid local school boards with instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy.

Specifically, the board would be required to "make available to each local school board instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy that are based on and include peer-reviewed scientific sources" and also to "develop, adopt, and make available to each model school board model policies and procedures ... pertaining to the selection of instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy."

The treatment of climate change in Virginia's state science standards received the grade of F in the "Making the Grade?" study in 2020, but state officials told the Virginia Mercury (October 13, 2020) that climate change is discussed further in a related curriculum framework.

Glenn Branch
Short Bio

Glenn Branch is Deputy Director of NCSE.

branch@ncse.ngo